ARICHAT - A community campaign designed to spark long-desired upgrades for a popular Isle Madame beach has brought its pitch to the Richmond Municipal Council table and is continuing to lobby the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR) in the hopes of seeing activity in the coming weeks and months. 

Lisa Boudreau, the chair of a committee seeking wharf repairs, accessibility upgrades, a new parking lot and other general approvements at Pondville Beach Provincial Park, addressed last night's Committee of the Whole meeting of Richmond Municipal Council and also sat down with Roundtable host Adam Cooke at the Telile Community Television studios in Arichat to make her case for the popular coastal destination. 

Describing Pondville Beach as the only truly sand-based shoreline on Isle Madame, and upgrading the place being a key recommendation for business owners such as herself to entice more Isle Madame's visitors, Boudreau noted that her conversations with DNRR officials have suggested that the department is waiting for an official request from Richmond County, making municipal involvement in the campaign even more critical. 

The situation is even more frustrating for Boudreau and her supporters - including nearly 900 people who have signed on to a Facebook group promoting the campaign in its first nine days online - is that Pondville was not included in a recent provincial increase in funding for provincially-run beaches from $1 million to $8 million annually. 

Also appearing on this week's Roundtable episode is another advocate for Pondville Beach improvements, Arichat resident Maxine David, who recently served as the co-chair for the committee developing a new accessibility strategy for Richmond County. 

Unable to access the beach for several years due to her own physical limitations, David is hopeful that the growing Pondville Beach campaign will see upgrades that have occurred at other provincially-run beaches including the Richmond County beach - specifically, Point Michaud in the county's east end - and the western Cape Breton site of Inverness Provincial Beach, which has employed wheelchair-friendly devices for several summers to allow those with mobility issues to experience the water on their own.